It only sounds like a Jimmy Kimmel setup or something from The Onion: Beer starts flowing at Windsor Star News Cafe.
In truth, it's a headline in Windsor's daily paper, where new beverages are in its third-floor cafe -- Walkerville Honest Lager and Walkerville Loophole Ale on tap.
The Green Bean Cafe, which just got a license to serve beer, is a brief walk -- or stagger -- from the third-floor newsroom. Though it's open to the public (the cafe, not the newsroom), the independent business serves as a company cafeteria in effect.
Draft beer on the same floor as a newsroom is rare. (Twitter photo by Doug Schmidt)
Many newspapers have a nearby watering hole, such as the Anchor Bar near Detroit's dailies and WDIV, but an embedded one is rare -- if not unprecedented. It's part of The Star's move last year to a spiffy new building on Ouellette Avenue, with space leased to Green Bean.
The coffeeshop -- which also serves paninis, wraps, soup, salad, muffins and cookies -- is open until 8 p.m. weekdays as a convenient spot for thirsty editors and reporters to have story conferences over a brewed beverage. Beer comes in 12-ounce or 16-ounce glasses, and wine will be added soon, reports Donald McArthur of The Star.
"Uh oh, do my journalists know this yet?" editor-in-chief Marty Beneteau posts on the cafe's Facebook page.
Actually, "Star journalists and columnists conduct interviews and film segments in the cafe," McArthur writes.
Sounds like a fine way to tap into free-flowing information exchanges.
It also provides an easy shot for a snarky reader.
“People have been drinking at the Star for a LONG time," Windsor electrician Jacob Morgan posts on the paper's Facebook page under a link to Saturday's article. “Have you read what they'll print?”. Have you read what they'll print?”
